Chapter 89 89
Aidan
The wind lashes my face as I run without stopping. The forest burns around me, the fire crackling with uncontrolled fury. I don’t know how long I’ve been running, but every step leaves a trail of destruction behind me.
If I wanted to go unnoticed, I’ve started badly.
The flames devour the dry underbrush; leaves crackle in bursts of ash; the air grows stifling with thick smoke rising in dark spirals toward the sky.
I’m setting everything ablaze in my path.
The shadows of the trees cast deformed figures under the orange glow of the fire. I hear the frantic beating of wings, the crack of breaking branches, the pounding of hooves against the ground. Animals flee in terror, survival instinct driving them away from the threat I’ve become—and the fire I carry with me.
I feel my pulse hammering in my temples. My breathing is erratic.
I have to stop.
The flames enveloping my body hiss and crackle, sliding like fiery serpents around my arms and legs. I clench my teeth and dig my feet into the earth, braking abruptly.
The fire keeps spreading.
I turn and see the disaster I’ve left behind. Charred trees, bushes reduced to ash, the ground blackened by scorching heat.
The forest is dying because of me.
But that’s not the worst part.
My heart stops for an instant when I realize where I am.
Human territory. I chose to come here without knowing the consequences.
It’s a violation. One step onto these lands can be considered a declaration of war.
The nations have lived in fragile balance for too long. Vampires, wolves, humans. None wants to risk breaking the pact; none wants to be the first to strike. But now I’ve crossed the line.
I am the threat.
My pulse thunders in my ears. I clutch my head with both hands, trying to calm the whirlwind inside me. I have to control it.
I have to stop the fire.
I close my eyes.
And I think of Lois.
Her image forms with sharp clarity in my mind; her voice echoes in my memory like a distant call. I want to feel her. I need to find her.
Lois…
My chest tightens as I call her name in my mind, desperately searching for a bond with her.
“Lois!”
My body gives way. I fall to my knees, hands sinking into the hot earth.
I feel the tremor inside me, the fire rebelling—but there’s something else, something different.
A voice.
Distant.
“Come to me.”
A shiver runs down my spine. I heard it.
No doubt. It’s her.
Lois.
I cling to that voice like an anchor, like a truth that keeps me steady. I focus on her call, on her essence, on her existence.
The fire consuming me begins to weaken.
The heat fades little by little. The flames wrapping my skin die out in golden flickers until they vanish completely.
Silence.
My muscles tremble. I’m exhausted.
My fingers clutch the collar I thought I no longer had; they brush it, then grip it in a fist. What the hell just happened?
I could have passed for just another human—but with all this fire… they’ll only see me as a threat.
The air is still thick with smoke, but I no longer burn. I collapse onto the scorched grass, breathing ragged.
My clothes are in ruins; my body is covered in ash and dust. But I’m whole.
The fire has gone out.
Lois saved me.
Or perhaps her voice reminded me I’m not yet lost.
This has to do with her—I’m certain of it. With the twins, maybe.
I open my eyes and gaze at the sky. Dawn light spreads over me, warm and gentle, without harming me.
I can’t even be sure anymore if this has to do with the collar or what’s happening.
Now I have to think about what comes next.
I can’t stay here.
I don’t belong in this place. But I know it’s the safest right now—especially if the collar works its effect… If I’m among humans, they’ll believe I’m one of them. Or at least I want to believe that.
Humans will hunt me if they discover me. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t intend to invade their territory—they’ll only see a monster who brought fire with him.
I have to hide here.
But I can’t go back to the vampires either.
Enzo wants me dead. Now more than ever.
More and more, I feel I belong nowhere. Lois was the only thing tying me to that world.
Now I’m a wanderer—a being without home, a fugitive without pack or clan.
I start running away from the fire. I have to find a place to hide and get as far from the border as possible before they start searching for me. I’m sure Enzo will raise the alarm about my invasion of human territory.
(…)
Ezequiel
The dawn chill clings to my skin when I jolt awake. Something’s wrong. I don’t know exactly what woke me, but there’s an emptiness in the air—a sensation gripping my chest like invisible claws.
My instinct forces me to move immediately, searching for Lois. My hand finds only cold earth.
Sleep vanishes in an instant. I sit up in one motion, eyes scanning the forest clearing. Lois is gone.
I turn quickly toward Emmanuel, who still sleeps deeply. The shock hits me full force. We were supposed to take turns keeping watch. There was no way both of us would fall asleep at once.
“Emmanuel,” I whisper urgently, but my voice feels heavy, hoarse. I shake him quickly. “Wake up!”
His body tenses before his eyes even open. When they do, his breathing turns erratic. I don’t need to say anything. His gaze goes straight to the empty ground beside us, and Lois’s absence jolts him awake.
“It can’t be…”
The desperation in his voice mirrors the terror coursing through me. I stand and inhale deeply, searching for her scent—any clue to where she might have gone. But there’s nothing.
The forest is calm—too calm. Her scent has vanished completely, as if she were never here.
Emmanuel moves with the same urgency, breathing hard, jaw clenched. He takes a few steps and stops abruptly.
“How the fuck is this possible?” he growls, fists tight.
I don’t know. I don’t understand. This shouldn’t be possible.
The worst part isn’t that Lois is gone. The worst is that she’s blocking us.
I try to open the bond in my mind, to call her—but all I get is silence. It’s as if she’s built a wall between us.
Emmanuel frowns and closes his eyes, trying the same, but his expression only hardens further when he exhales in frustration.
She’s shut us out.
She’s left us blind—unable to know if she’s okay, if she’s alive.
“She can’t have gone far,” I mutter, trying to convince myself, though I know it’s a lie.
Emmanuel glares at me, eyes burning with rage and helplessness.
“Do you really believe that? No scent, no tracks. Nothing.”
The truth settles in my chest like a stone. This isn’t a simple escape. Lois doesn’t want us to find her.
Clenching my teeth, I draw a breath and force myself to stay calm.
“Let’s split up and search the area.”
“For what?” Emmanuel snaps, tone sharp with desperation. “You know it won’t do any good. She’s not here.”
I want to argue, to cling to something logical—but he’s right.
Lois is gone—completely beyond our reach.
Emmanuel runs a hand over his face, and when he looks at me again, something has changed in his expression. His eyes are glassy; his breathing ragged.
“I don’t feel good.”
My back stiffens instantly.
“What do you feel?”
Emmanuel clenches his fists.
“I don’t know. It’s like…” He pauses, searching for the right words. His lips part and close, and when he finally speaks, his voice is barely a whisper. “It’s like someone tore a piece out of me.”
A chill runs down my spine.
“Pain?”
“No. Not pain. It’s something else. It’s Lois. I don’t know—I don’t know how to explain it.”
His words hit me hard. I look inside myself, searching for a similar sensation—but I don’t feel the same.
She blocked us both, but Emmanuel is feeling it differently. He’s broken.
I can’t shake the feeling that this is far worse than we thought.
“She’s left us,” Emmanuel whispers, looking me straight in the eyes.
I shake my head.
“No. She wouldn’t do that.”
But he doesn’t look away.
“She has. And you know it.”
My body feels rigid. I remember the last moments—Lois’s state, her lost gaze, the guilt consuming her. She blocked us because she knew we’d stop her.
And if she made this choice, it was because she was convinced she shouldn’t stay with us.
My chest tightens with raw fear as the truth strikes me.
“What if her way of fixing everything was to disappear?”
Emmanuel closes his eyes for a moment, as if he doesn’t want to even consider it—but he can’t ignore it.
His fist slams into a tree with brutal force, but he doesn’t even feel it.
“Shit,” he growls through clenched teeth.
I step back, breathing hard. This can’t be happening.
Lois was broken. She blamed herself for everything. She believed we’d be better without her.
And if she convinced herself she shouldn’t be with us—if she blocked our bond so we couldn’t feel her—then…
What’s left for us?
She’s left us no choice. No trail. Not a single clue where to look.
But if there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that we won’t let her go.
If Lois thinks this is the end, we’ll find her before it is.
Emmanuel takes a step toward me but staggers. I rush to his side and catch him.
“I don’t… I don’t feel good. It’s like…” His body starts heating up, burning my hands—but I don’t let go. “Get away,” he asks. I lower him to the ground and step back. In a blink, he becomes a ball of fire—but he controls it perfectly. The flames retreat until they concentrate in a single point on his palm. Emmanuel compresses it until it’s just a marble-sized sphere, but then it surges outward again with violent force.
“Are you okay?” I ask, watching closely as the heat envelops me.
“Lois!” Emmanuel shouts with all his strength—but her name escapes my lips at the same moment, with the same intensity. My body ignites too, as if I’ve lost control. I feel panic, fear—perhaps from the fire embracing me, or because Lois is in danger.
My body collapses to the ground. I can’t control the flames. I feel my brother’s hand take mine, his touch trying to calm me.
“Come to me.”
Her voice is clear in my mind—it’s Lois—but I don’t feel her, only the sound of that voice fading instantly.
My body calms; the flames die away. I’m left exhausted, trembling, naked, and terrified. It’s the first time I’ve lost control of my body like this… or that my body has ignited this way.
Not even in my first shift did I feel this.
“Did… did you see me, Emmanuel? Did you see me?!”
“I saw you—of course I saw you. Just tell me you can control it. This could be dangerous.”
“I don’t know. It’s the first time it’s happened. Did you hear Lois too?” I ask.
“Loud and clear.”
“We have to find her, Emma.”
“No—what we have to do is do things right, Ez. How could we bring her back if… this is still chaos? She’s alive—I don’t know if she’s okay, but she’s alive, and she believes she has enough reasons to leave. Maybe she’s right. Aidan’s gone; our father is hunting us. We can’t escape; we can’t protect her. What do we offer her? A life on the run, keeping her in constant danger—or a life like this? What can we do?”
“We have to fix it,” I say. I know it’s true—that we haven’t offered Lois anything better.
“Ez, we have to claim what’s ours. Together. Let’s go back to the pack.”
“Are you sure about that, Emma?”
“Fuck yes. I’m damn sure.”